Clip Joint

Playing with guns at Crossroads of the West

I've got one for you:
Two guys in wraparound shades with "Wetback Power" gang tattoos saunter past a Maricopa County sheriff's volunteer posse member. Both are openly armed with pistols and combat shotguns.

The weekend cop looks 'em over and says, "Have a nice Sunday, guys."
It was all part of the gun show April 10 and 11 at Crossroads of the West--a.k.a. "The Big One"--the annual cash-and-carry firearms megamart that occupies two exposition buildings and two tents on the Arizona State Fairgrounds.

I spent most of my weekend's daylight hours at Crossroads of the West, looking for a hot deal on a gently used, high-grade .380-caliber semiautomatic.

Some deride the .380 as a chick's gun. I say when it comes to urban self-defense, bag Dirty Harry and his clumsy, .44 Magnum penis extender. Think speed, style, stealth. James Bond packs a .380. You sacrifice a little stopping power, sure, but a good Colt .380 holds 10 hollow-point rounds. Forty feet or closer, you'll still put the bad guy on his back.

I saw at least 50 used .380s for sale, but they were all shabby brands. Saturday night (or early afternoon, in this case) specials, priced--and selling--at 120 to 180 bucks each. Even so, I came away convinced that the bumper-sticker booths alone at Crossroads of the West justified the $7 entrance fee.

And the cake-taker:
"If I'd known it would turn out like this, I would have picked my own damn cotton."

I would have jotted down a few more for you, but I got the idea the guys in the bumper-sticker booths didn't like me writing in my notebook. I got this idea when one of them, wearing a Glock .45 on his hip, yelled, "Hey! What the fuck are you doing?"

As you might deduce from the bumper stickers, nearly all of the gun people at the gun show--hawkers and customers--were white men, or white men with their white families. I saw only one black guy, and he was buying body armor.

I did, however, see several contingents of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans whose arms, necks and chests were inked with Olde English, prison-style gang tattoos.

I don't mean to get across that the only criminal-minded gun buyers at Crossroads of the West were Mexican or Mexican-American, or that all (or even most) of the gun buyers there were criminals. But some at least dressed the part.

Now, some of these booths are operated by federally licensed firearms dealers, which means that before one can purchase a handgun, you must fill out paperwork, show ID and undergo a background check to make sure you're not blacklisted by the feds. (The dealer calls in your name and social security number to a database operator in roughly the same while-you-wait process used in established gun stores.)

Other gun booths are not licensed, which means they are private collections and are not subject to federal gun laws such as the Brady Act. At Crossroads of the West, these booths were marked by signs like the one that depicted Uncle Sam within a red circle with a slash, aside the banner, "Private collection. No hassles! No paperwork!"

Which means no safeguard to prevent a convicted felon, or an illegal alien, or a fugitive from justice, or a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic with a day pass, from picking up, say, a used Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum and a box of 50 rounds for $300: cash on the barrelhead and no questions asked.

Earlier this year, in a weekly radio address, President Clinton called for Congress to enact laws requiring background checks on anyone who buys a firearm at a gun show, whether from a licensed dealer or not. He called gun shows "arms bazaars, where lawbreakers shop side-by-side with the law-abiding," and cited a recent Department of Justice study that reported there were 4,400 gun shows advertised in America last year. He described the shows as "forums for gun traffickers, a convenience store for weapons used to maim and kill."

As I alluded earlier, Crossroads of the West was not a media-friendly event.
Sunday, one guy watching the entrance had on a shirt that proclaimed, "No drug dealers, child molesters, federal agents, attorneys or media!"